1 Chapter 1
“Reno Garvey, on this day, June 17, 1885, this court finds you guilty of murder and sentences you to be hanged from the neck until dead.”
Reno could still hear the haunting echo of those words as he climbed the creaking steps of the gallows, one by one. The dark rain clouds seemed low enough to touch, and the wind howled against him, the flying grit cutting into his skin. Rough hands slipped the rope around his neck, and as he took one last look atSadie, suddenly a black hood blinded him to the tears she was shedding. While he stood waiting for the rope to tighten around his neck and the trapdoor to open, his thoughts went back twenty-five years to the day his daughter was born.
* * * *
A dust storm held the tiny cabin within its blustery grip. Already the windows had a layer of dirt on them, casting the room in a semi-darkness of gloom. The flickering lamps did their best to lend light, but large shadows climbed the walls as Reno stealthily moved around the small space.
Sadie lay on a hard, lumpy bed, waiting for the birth of their child.
“Oh, God, Reno,” she moaned. “The pain is cutting me in two!”
“Try to hold on a little while longer, sweetheart,” he said as he grabbed her hand and held it tightly. “The doctor’s on his way.”
She’d been in labor the whole night, and Reno knew the child would be coming soon. Sadie was a strong woman, but her face was a nightmare of pain. He tried to hold her down, but she jerked around like she was being hit by a horde of wayward bullets. When the pain had finally passed, he left her side for only a moment and hurried to the window.
“Reno!” she cried out when the pain grabbed her again. The fear in her voice cut through him as she scratched along the bed for his hand.
Reno turned from the window where he was trying to see beyond the wall of dust for the first signs of thedoctor, but he knew it was useless. This storm was keeping everyone inside. He was tormented by Sadie’s cries and could almost feel every pain she was having. He leaned over her, wiping the beads of sweat from her face as she struggled with the pain.
“Remember, Sadie, we talked about this. Just do what the doc said, and go with it. Try to steel yourself against the pain and go with it!”
“He’s not coming, is he?” she gritted out. “The storm, it’s keeping him away, isn’t it?” Suddenly, she screamed. “The pains are so close together they—”
The last one was the toughest and hardest. When it finally hit her, Reno could see the child’s head as it came peeking through.
“It’s coming!” he shouted, but when he looked up he saw that Sadie had lost consciousness.
* * * *
A flickering light teased the darkness behind Sadie’s lids, waking her up to shadows and silence. She seemed to be floating in some kind of euphoric twilight sleep until she suddenly remembered the god-awful pain she’d felt before. Now as she looked down at her stomach and saw how flat it was, she knew her baby had been born, and she had lived through it. But what about the baby? While the house creaked under the dying wind, she lifted herself to get up. She hadn’t taken a step before the room began to whirl, and she grabbed the bedpost to keep from falling.
While hanging on to it, she faintly called out, “Reno!”
Within seconds the door opened, and Reno crept in. “My God, Sadie, get back in bed. You’re in no condition to be walking around.”
“The baby, Reno, is it all right?”
“She’s just fine, but I think she’s hungry.”
“It’s a girl?” Sadie asked as she crawled back in bed.
He looked down at the child and smiled. “It sure is, Sadie. A little white-haired girl that’s so beautiful she’ll put your eyes out.” He laid the child down in Sadie’s arms and then sat down beside her. “Can you believe that something so beautiful could come from an old cowpoke like me?”
Sadie smiled as she pushed her nipple into the soft, rose like mouth. “She is beautiful, isn’t she?” She looked up at Reno, her eyes rimmed with tears. “Oh, God, Reno, how can I possibly give her up? I love her already.”
Reno’s eyes clouded over with sadness. “I know, darlin’, and I feel the same way, but we have to remember that it’s for her own good.”
“I’m not sure about that,” Sadie whispered. “Who could give her more love than her own ma and pa?”
“Sadie, you know it would be wrong to keep her here not bein’ married, and me on the run all the time. Besides, I’m as poor as a church mouse.”
“But I’ve got money. A little, anyway.”
“It ain’t enough, Sadie, and you know it. Not for a place in town. Ain’t neither of us farmers. Any ranch we tried to run would go to seed in no time.”
“That only leaves the Pink Palace.”
“I know, sweetheart, and I’m as sorry as hell, but we both know you can’t raise a child in a brothel.”
Sadie cried. “I never was ashamed of what I do before, but now when I look into that sweet face and see all of that purity and loveliness…” She looked up at Reno. “Oh, Reno, I’d give it all up in a second if we could keep her.”
“I know, darling, but it ain’t only that, and you know it. Even if you did quit, what would you do? We got nothin’, Sadie. We couldn’t begin to give her all the things she needs.”
“We could give her love, Reno, so much love.”
“I know, darlin’, but we need to be sensible. She can’t live on love. I’ve got family in Boston who’s got money. They’ll be able to send her to a good school and raise her in comfort. If she’d been a boy, maybe it would have been different, but you know as well as I do that a little girl takes lots of care, and my family can give it to her.”
“Reno, you hated it in Boston. Why would you send our daughter there?”
“There ain’t nothin’ wrong with Boston. It’s that crazy sister of mine. She’s a good woman, but honest to God, sometimes she acts as crazy as a loon. On top of that, she’s into all that Boston societystuff. Why, that woman is so damned stiff-necked and proper with her snooty friends and all, she almost drove me crazy. Anyway, I stayed there as long as I could, and then I had to get out.”
“Are you sure she’d be the right one to raise our little girl?”
“Don’t you see, Sadie? All those things that were bad for me are exactly what our little girl needs. I wouldn’t put her somewhere she couldn’t be happy. Besides, Harriet may be crazy, but she loves children.”
“What’ll you tell her? I mean about us?”
“I’ll tell her the child’s mother died. They don’t have to know the truth. Besides, one look at thatlittle face and she’ll fall in love with her.”
Sadie looked down at the child and smiled. “That’s true, but for Lorraine’s sake—”
Reno smiled tenderly. “Lorraine?”
“Don’t she look like a Lorraine? All pink and blonde?”
“Lorraine,” Reno repeated. “Lorraine Garvey. Sounds kind of special. Uppity and all that.”
“If she’s going to live in Boston, she’ll need a name like that,” Sadie said. “So people will know she comes from a good family.” Sadie looked up at Reno with tears in her eyes. “Oh, Reno, I don’t knowwhat I’m going to do without her.”
“I know how you feel, but keep one thing in mind. She’s our daughter, and no matter how uppity she gets, Whiskey Hill is still her home. In the meantime, I’ll have my sister Harriet keep—”
* * * *
Suddenly the trapdoor opened, and Reno felt the sturdy plank slip from beneath his feet, sending him to his death.
